Scott Camil - Vietnam War Activism

Vietnam War Activism

Recognized by the FBI as an "extremist and key activist," Camil was on President Nixon's "enemies list." On December 22, 1971, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent a classified memo to the Jacksonville office regarding Camil, referring to him as an "extremely dangerous and unstable individual whose activities must be neutralized at earliest possible time." Other memos about Camil used the same word, neutralize, less ambiguously: "Jacksonville continue to press vigorously to insure (sic) that all necessary action taken to completely neutralize subject without delay." Camil explained, "When you pin the government down, they'll say 'Well, "neutralize" just means to render useless.' But if you talk to guys in the field, they say it means to kill." Indeed, Camil was eventually shot by FBI and-or DEA agents in 1974 in a drug entrapment sting, and nearly died.

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